Infotainment system

ABSTRACT

An infotainment system for a vehicle may include a controllable audio reproduction arrangement that is configured to be fixed in the vehicle and to acoustically reproduce an audio signal under the control of a control signal. It may further include a portable device that is freely movable in the vehicle and that is configured to provide the audio and control signals for the audio reproduction arrangement, as well as a wireless connection between the portable device and the audio reproduction arrangement configured to transmit the audio and control signals from the portable device to the audio reproduction arrangement. The audio reproduction arrangement has amplification, quiescent power consumption and a maximum output power, of which at least one is controllable by the portable device via the control signal.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The embodiments described herein relate to an infotainment system, inparticular to an infotainment system for a vehicle.

BACKGROUND

Infotainment refers to a type of media that provides a combination ofinformation and entertainment. Infotainment systems in vehicles,sometimes referred to as “in-vehicle entertainment” or “in-vehicleinfotainment”, are collections of hardware devices installed in vehiclesor other forms of transportation to provide audio or audiovisualinfotainment including, for example, radio, television, MP3s, automotivenavigation or other signal and information processing such as surroundsound.

A head unit, sometimes referred to as “deck” or “receiver”, is acomponent of an infotainment system in a vehicle or home cinema systemthat provides a unified hardware interface for the various components ofan electronic media system. The head unit is the centerpiece of thevehicle's sound system. Head units give the user control over thevehicle's entertainment media such as Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB)radio, analog amplitude/frequency modulation (AM/FM) radio, MP3s, GlobalPositioning System (GPS) navigation, Bluetooth, etc. Head units alsoafford the user precise control over detailed audio functions such asvolume, speaker balance, speaker fade, bass, treble, equalization (EQ)and so on. Several companies are integrating more advanced systems intovehicles' head units that can control vehicular functions such as doorchimes and even offer vehicle data such as trouble warnings and odometerinformation; such head units thus serve as secondary instrument panels.Typically located in the center of the dashboard, modern head units aredensely integrated electronic packages fixed in vehicles with detachablefaceplates housing graphical user interfaces. As head units areexpensive and are therefore common targets for theft, many areintegrated into the vehicles' alarm systems.

SUMMARY

An infotainment system for a vehicle may include a controllable audioreproduction arrangement that is configured to be fixed in the vehicleand to acoustically reproduce an audio signal under the control of acontrol signal. It may further include a portable device that is freelymovable in the vehicle and that is configured to provide the audio andcontrol signals for the audio reproduction arrangement, as well as awireless connection between the portable device and the audioreproduction arrangement configured to transmit the audio and controlsignals from the portable device to the audio reproduction arrangement.The audio reproduction arrangement has amplification, quiescent powerconsumption and a maximum output power, of which at least one iscontrollable by the portable device via the control signal.

Other systems, methods, features and advantages will be, or will become,apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the followingfigures and detailed description. It is intended that all suchadditional systems, methods, features and advantages be included withinthis description, be within the scope of the invention and be protectedby the following claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The system may be better understood with reference to the followingdrawings and description. The components in the figures are notnecessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustratingthe principles of the invention. Moreover, in the figures, likereferenced numerals designate corresponding parts throughout thedifferent views.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary infotainment systemwith an audio reproduction arrangement and a portable device.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an application of theinfotainment system of FIG. 1 in a car.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of an exemplary controllable amplifieremploying a multiplier, which is applicable to the infotainment systemof FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram of an exemplary controllable filterapplicable in the infotainment system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of the first exemplary power driver stageapplicable in the infotainment system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram of the second exemplary power driver stageapplicable in the infotainment system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a softened control signal asamplitude over time for controlling the power driver stage of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, an infotainment system may include a controllableaudio reproduction arrangement 1 that may be fixed in a vehicle (notshown) and a portable device 2 that is freely movable in the vehicle.Audio reproduction arrangement 1 may be intended to acousticallyreproduce audio signal AS under the control of control signal CS, andportable device 2 may be configured to provide audio signal AS andcontrol signal CS for audio reproduction arrangement 1.

Controllable audio reproduction arrangement 1 and portable device 2 maybe connected with each other by wireless link 3 in order to transmitaudio signal AS and control signal CS from portable device 2 to audioreproduction arrangement 1. Wireless link 3 may include a transmitterand a receiver, implemented in the present case as transceivers 4 and 5,in order to establish a bidirectional connection that also allows fortransmitting signals from audio reproduction arrangement 1 to portabledevice 2. As shown, transceiver 4 may be integrated into audioreproduction arrangement 1, and transceiver 5 may be integrated intoportable device 2. Alternatively, one or both of transceivers 4 and 5may be arranged separately from audio reproduction arrangement 1 andportable device 2. Transceivers 4 and 5 may employ any known method andstandard for exchanging data over short distances using wirelesstransmission such as wireless local area networks (WLAN), wirelessEthernet (Wi-Fi) or Bluetooth.

For example, Bluetooth operates in the range of 2,400 to 2,483.5 MHz inthe globally unlicensed industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) 2.4 GHzshort-range radio-frequency band. The transmitted data is divided intopackets and each packet is transmitted on one of 79 designated Bluetoothchannels. Each channel has a bandwidth of 1 MHz. The first channelstarts at 2,402 MHz and continues up to 2,480 MHz in 1-MHz steps.Bluetooth is a packet-based protocol with a master-slave structure. Onemaster may communicate with up to seven slaves in a piconet, which is anad hoc computer network with all devices sharing the master's clock.Bluetooth provides a secure way to connect and exchange informationbetween devices such as mobile phones, telephones, laptops, GlobalPositioning System (GPS) receivers, music players and the like. AnyBluetooth device in discoverable mode transmits the device name, deviceclass, list of services and some technical information on demand. Anydevice may perform an inquiry to find other devices to connect to, andany device can be configured to respond to such inquiries. However, ifthe device trying to connect knows the address of the device, it alwaysresponds to direct connection requests and transmits the informationmentioned above, if requested. Use of the device's services may requirepairing or acceptance by its owner, but the connection itself can beinitiated by any device and held until it goes out of range. Somedevices can be connected to only one device at a time; connecting tothem prevents them from connecting to other devices or appearing ininquiries until they disconnect from the first device. Every device hasa unique 48-bit address. However, these addresses are generally notshown in inquiries.

Many of the services offered over Bluetooth will allow the connectingparty to control the Bluetooth device. For security reasons, it isnecessary to be able to recognize specific devices and thus enablecontrol over which devices are allowed to connect to a given Bluetoothdevice. At the same time, it is useful for Bluetooth devices to be ableto establish connections without user intervention, for example, as soonas they are in range. To resolve this conflict, Bluetooth uses a processcalled bonding, and the bond is created through a process calledpairing. The pairing process is either triggered by a specific requestfrom a user to create a bond or it is triggered automatically whenconnecting to the service in which the identity of the device isrequired for security purposes. These two cases are referred to as“dedicated bonding” and “general bonding”, respectively. Pairing ofteninvolves some level of user interaction. This user interaction is thebasis for confirming the identities of the devices, which stops oncepairing successfully completes, when a bond is formed between the twodevices, enabling those two devices to connect to each other in thefuture without requiring the pairing process to confirm the identity ofthe devices. If desired, the bond can later be removed by the user.During the pairing process, the two devices involved establish arelationship by creating a shared secret known as a link key. If a linkkey is stored in both devices, they are said to be paired or bonded. Inthe present case, it is assumed that wireless link 3 is a Bluetoothconnection and the two transmitters 4 and 5 are paired and bonded.

In controllable audio reproduction arrangement 1, audio signal AS, whichis a stereo audio signal in the present case, and control signal CS,which allows at least for controlling characteristics of audioreproduction arrangement 1, such as the audio signal amplification,spectral characteristic, quiescent power consumption and maximum outputpower, are recovered by transceiver 4 from the received modulatedsignal. The stereo audio signal AS is supplied to two delay lines 6A and6B, where it is delayed by a sufficient amount of time to allow controlsignal CS to control the above-mentioned characteristics. The delayedaudio signal AS is supplied to preamplifiers 7A and 7B, whoseamplification may be controlled by control signal CS. By way ofpreamplifiers 7A and 7B, the overall amplification can be controlled. Byway of controllable filters 8A and 8B, which are connected downstream ofpreamplifiers 7A and 7B, the amplification per frequency can becontrolled. Controllable filters 8A and 8B may have at least twocontrollable frequency ranges, e.g., bass and treble, or a multiplicityof frequency ranges (channels) such as equalizer filter banks.Alternatively, the overall amplification can be controlled viacontrollable filters 8A and 8B by controlling all filter ranges in thesame manner so that controllable preamplifiers 7A and 7B can be omitted.Power driver stages 9A and 9B are connected downstream of controllablefilters 8A and 8B and upstream of loudspeakers 10A and 10B. Power driverstages 9A and 9B have quiescent power consumption and a maximum outputpower that are controllable by the portable device via control signalCS. Exemplary preamplifiers, controllable filters and controllable powerdriver stages are explained in more detail below with references toFIGS. 3-6.

In the present example, microphone 11 is connected via microphonepreamplifier 12, which is controlled by transmitter 4 by way of controlsignal CSM. Audio signals ASM from microphone 11 are processed bytransmitter 4 and transmitted via wireless link 3 from controllableaudio reproduction arrangement 1 to portable device 2.

Controllable audio reproduction arrangement 1 may further comprise acontrollable switch 13 that is controlled by transmitter 4 and thatconnects, under the control of transmitter 4, preamplifiers 7A and 7B,controllable filters 8A and 8B, power driver output stages 9A and 9B,microphone 11 and microphone preamplifier 12 to supply voltage US, whichis referred to a reference potential, ground G in the present case.

Portable device 2 may include control unit 14 and graphical userinterface (GUI) 15, including a display, keyboard 16, memory 17,far-field radio-frequency transceiver 18 such as GSM or the like andbattery 19, which provides the power supply for portable device 2, inaddition to the already mentioned transceiver 5. Far-fieldradio-frequency transceiver 18 provides, e.g., mobile telephoneconnections, mobile interne and other mobile services. Portable device 2may additionally include a microphone, a loudspeaker and respectiveamplifiers, which are not shown since they are not required for thepurposes discussed herein. Memory 17 may contain software 19, with whichcertain programs and processes may be implemented in control unit 14.Software 19 may include one or more software applications and provideservices and functions similar to those of a common vehicle head unitsuch as Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) radio, analog amplitude/frequencymodulation (AM/FM) radio, MP3s, Global Positioning System (GPS)navigation and control over detailed audio functions such as volume,speaker balance, speaker fade and frequency characteristics such asbass, treble, equalization (EQ), etc.

Transceiver 4 may output analog or digital audio signal AS and analog ordigital control signal CS. Accordingly, the subsequent circuitry may beanalog, digital or a blend of both. For the sake of simplicity, nodigital-to-analog converters are shown, but each of delay lines 6A and6B, controllable preamplifiers 7A and 7B, controllable filters 8A and 8Band power driver stages 9A and 9B may accordingly be analog, digital ora blend of both.

Referring now to FIG. 2, controllable audio reproduction arrangement 1,as illustrated above in connection with FIG. 1, may be fixed indashboard 20 of vehicle 21. Alternatively, controllable audioreproduction arrangement 1 may be disposed in any other position in thecar, e.g., under a seat, in the trunk, in or on the center console orunder, on or in the rear shelf. Portable device 2 may be a dedicateddevice or a common smartphone (as shown) on which the head unitfunctions are implemented by way of one or more software applications(also known as “apps”). Portable device 2 can be carried away fromvehicle 21 and thus offers protection from theft. Furthermore, updatingthe head unit software is much easier since portable device 2 can beeasily carried and connected, for example, to a personal computer athome for downloading updates or, in particular with smartphones, theupdates can be directly downloaded anywhere via mobile internet.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an analog or digital multiplier 22 thatmay be used as a controllable preamplifier like preamplifiers 7A and 7Bin the arrangement of FIG. 1. Multiplier 22 receives the delayed audiosignal AS and provides as an output signal a multiple X thereof (X·AS),in which X represents the amplification/attenuation and is controlsignal CS or is determined by control signal CS.

A multiplicity of multipliers 23, 24 and 25 in connection withcorresponding frequency selective filters such as high-pass filter 26,midrange filter 27, low-pass filter 28 and adder 29 may be used, asshown in FIG. 4, to realize a controllable filter such as controllablefilters 8A and 8B. Signal X·AS is supplied to high-pass filter 26,midrange filter 27 and low-pass filter 28, where it is high-passfiltered, midrange filtered and low-pass filtered. The accordinglyfiltered signals are amplified/attenuated by multipliers 23, 24 and 25,whose output signals are summed up by adder 29. Multipliers 23, 24 and25 receive signals YH(CS), YM(CS) and YL(CS) and provide a respectivemultiple thereof, in which YH(CS), YM(CS) and YL(CS) are determined bycontrol signal CS and represent the amplifications/attenuations in therespective frequency range. Adder 29 provides output signal Y(f)·X·AS,which represents audio signal AS amplified/attenuated byamplification/attenuation X and a frequency-dependentamplification/attenuation Y(f). As mentioned above, afrequency-independent amplification/attenuation such asamplification/attenuation X can alternatively be achieved by equallycontrolling the frequency-dependent amplification/attenuation Y(f).Besides controlling the amplitude frequency characteristic, other soundproperties of the audio signal (audio functions) such as delay time,muting, volume, speaker balance, speaker fade, bass, treble,equalization (EQ) etc. may be controlled as well.

FIG. 5 illustrates the circuit diagram of a power driver stage such aspower driver stages 9A and 9B. The power driver stage of FIG. 5 has afull-bridge structure with two identical bridge branches. Each of thebranches includes operational amplifier 30A or 30B, both supplied bysupply voltage US and referenced to ground G. The output of operationalamplifiers 30A and 30B is connected through resistors 31A and 31B to theoutput of the respective branch, each branch output being connected toone supply line of loudspeaker 10A or 10B and to its own invertinginput. The output of operational amplifier 30A or 30B is furtherconnected to the base line of NPN transistor 32A or 32B and to the baseline of PNP transistor 33A or 33B, whose emitters are connected with thebranch output. The collector line of transistor 32A or 32B is connectedto supply voltage US, and the collector line of transistor 33A or 33B isconnected to ground G. Transistors 32A, 32B, 33A and 33B form a bipolaremitter follower.

Preamplifier 34, with two complimentary outputs, is connected upstreamof operational amplifiers 30A and 30B. One of the complimentary outputs(+) is connected to the non-inverting input of operational amplifier30A, and the other (−) is connected to switch 35, which connects thenon-inverting input of operational amplifier 30B either with the other(−) complementary output of preamplifier 34 or with a tap of a voltagedivider. The voltage divider includes the two resistors 36 and 37 thatare series-connected between supply voltage US and ground G. The nodebetween resistors 36 and 37 forms the tap of the voltage divider.

If switch 35 connects the non-inverting input of operational amplifier30B to the output of preamplifier 34, the driver shown in FIG. 5 isoperated as a full-bridge amplifier, also known as an H-bridgeamplifier. The term H bridge is derived from the typical graphicalrepresentation of such a circuit. An H bridge is built with fourtransistors or switches. When a first pair of diagonal switches ortransistors (e.g., transistors 32A and 33B) are closed and a second pairof diagonal switches or transistors (e.g., transistors 33A and 32B) areopen, the voltage across loudspeaker 10A (10B) will be positive. Byopening the first pair and closing the second pair, the voltage acrossloudspeaker 10A (10B) is reversed, allowing reverse operation ofloudspeaker 10A (10B). If switch 35 connects the non-inverting input ofoperational amplifier 30B to the tap of the voltage divider, transistors32B and 33B are clamped to a certain voltage that is defined by thevoltage at the tap of the voltage divider and that is usually half ofsupply voltage US, whereby resistors 36 and 37 have the same resistance.Transistors 32B and 33B form a half bridge with a reference potentialset by the output of the second branch. As can be seen, the half-bridgeamplifier provides a maximum output voltage that is half of the maximumoutput voltage provided by the full-bridge amplifier. Therefore, byswitching switch 35 under the control of control signal CS, the maximumoutput power can be increased or decreased.

FIG. 6 illustrates the circuit diagram of another power driver stage,applicable as power driver stages 9A and 9B. The power driver stage ofFIG. 6 includes operational amplifier 38, which is supplied via resistor39 with positive supply voltage +US and resistor 40 with negative supplyvoltage −US. The output of operational amplifier 38 is connected toground G via resistors 41 and 42 to the output of the driver stage, towhich one line of loudspeaker 10A (10B) and the inverting input ofoperational amplifier 38 are connected. The other line of loudspeaker10A (10B) is connected to ground G. A gate line of p-channelmetal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) field-effect transistor 43 is coupledwith the node between resistor 39 and operational amplifier 38 viaresistor 44. A gate line of n-channel MOS field-effect transistor 45 iscoupled with the node between resistor 40 and operational amplifier 38via resistor 46. Drain lines of transistors 44 and 45 are connected tothe output of the driver stage. A source line of transistor 43 isconnected to positive supply voltage +US, and a source line oftransistor 45 is connected to negative supply voltage −US. Two furthern-channel MOS field-effect transistors 47 and 48 are connected withtheir source lines to positive supply voltage +US and with their drainlines to the output of the driver stage. The base lines of transistors47 and 48 are connected to each other, to a drain line of n-channel MOSfield-effect transistor 53 and, via resistor 51, to the node betweenresistor 39 and operational amplifier 38. The source line of transistor53 is connected to positive supply voltage +US. Two further p-channelMOS field-effect transistors 49 and 50 are connected with their sourcelines to negative supply voltage −US and with their drain lines to theoutput of the driver stage. The base lines of transistors 49 and 50 areconnected to each other, to a drain line of p-channel MOS field-effecttransistor 54 and, via resistor 52, to the node between resistor 40 andoperational amplifier 38. The source line of transistor 54 is connectedto negative supply voltage −US. Base lines of transistors 53 and 54 areconnected to differential output lines of preamplifier 55, which issupplied with positive supply voltage +US and negative supply voltage−US, and which receives control signal CS via resistor-capacitor (RC)low-pass element 56.

In the present example, control signal CS allows for softly switchingtransistors 53 and 54 so that they short-circuit the source lines withthe base lines of transistors 47 and 48 and the source lines with thebase lines of transistors 49 and 50. This causes transistors 47, 48, 49and 50 to be inactive under all circumstances. When transistors 47, 48,49 and 50 are switched off, the quiescent current is generated only bytransistors 43 and 45. However, when switching transistors 47, 48, 49and 50 on, the quiescent current is generated by transistors 43, 45, 47,48, 49 and 50. Assuming that all transistors 43, 45, 47, 48, 49 and 50are identical, this means that the quiescent current can be switched byway of control signal CS between full current and one third thereof, ascan the quiescent power consumption accordingly.

Soft switching means that switching is performed with a switching slopeadapted to produce inaudible artifacts in the acoustically reproducedaudio signal, which can be achieved, for example, by low-pass filteringa switching signal such as control signal CS. The resulting voltagecharacteristic (amplitude A over time t) when switching off and on isshown in FIG. 7.

While various embodiments of the invention have been described, it willbe apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many moreembodiments and implementations are possible within the scope of theinvention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be restricted except inlight of the attached claims and their equivalents.

1. An infotainment system for a vehicle comprising: a controllable audioreproduction arrangement that is configured to be fixed in the vehicleand to acoustically reproduce an audio signal under the control of acontrol signal; a portable device that is freely movable in the vehicleand that is configured to provide the audio and control signals for theaudio reproduction arrangement; and a wireless connection between theportable device and the audio reproduction arrangement configured totransmit the audio and control signals from the portable device to theaudio reproduction arrangement; wherein the audio reproductionarrangement has amplification, quiescent power consumption and a maximumoutput power, of which at least one is controllable by the portabledevice via the control signal.
 2. The infotainment system of claim 1,wherein the audio reproduction arrangement is configured to change soundproperties of the audio signal under the control of the portable devicevia the control signal.
 3. The infotainment system of claim 1, whereinthe audio reproduction arrangement is configured to switch between atleast two different quiescent currents under the control of the controlsignal in order to control the power consumption, each of the at leasttwo different quiescent currents having an amperage greater than zero.4. The infotainment system of claim 3, wherein the audio reproductionarrangement is configured to switch with a switching slope adapted toproduce no audible artifacts in the acoustically reproduced audio signalprovided by the audio reproduction arrangement.
 5. The infotainmentsystem of claim 1, wherein the audio reproduction arrangement has amaximum output power level and is configured to switch between at leasttwo different maximum output power levels under the control of thecontrol signal in order to control the power consumption.
 6. Theinfotainment system of claim 5, wherein the audio reproductionarrangement is configured to switch with a switching slope adapted toproduce no audible artifacts in the acoustically reproduced audio signalprovided by the audio reproduction arrangement.
 7. The infotainmentsystem of claim 1, wherein the audio reproduction arrangement isconfigured to switch on and off under the control of the control signalin order to control the power consumption.
 8. The infotainment system ofclaim 7, wherein the audio reproduction arrangement is configured toswitch with a switching slope adapted to produce no audible artifacts inthe acoustically reproduced audio signal provided by the audioreproduction arrangement.
 9. The infotainment system of claim 1, whereinthe portable device is configured to form a head unit of theinfotainment system and comprises the basic infotainment functionality.10. The infotainment system of claim 9, wherein the basic infotainmentfunctionality comprises at least one of the following: navigationsystem, media player, hands-free telephone and radio receiver.
 11. Theinfotainment system of claim 9, wherein the portable device furthercomprises a graphical user interface with which graphical information isinput and output, but audio signals are output via the audioreproduction arrangement.
 12. The infotainment system of claim 9,wherein the portable device is a smartphone with a digital dataprocessing unit and wherein the basic infotainment functionality isimplemented via at least one software application in the digital dataprocessing unit.
 13. The infotainment system of any of claim 1, whereinthe wireless connection is further configured to transmit a furtheraudio signal from the audio reproduction arrangement to the portabledevice.
 14. The infotainment system of claim 13, further comprising amicrophone arrangement that is configured to be fixed in the vehicle andto generate the further audio signal.
 15. The infotainment system of anyof claim 1, wherein the audio reproduction arrangement comprises atleast one controllable audio amplifier and at least one loudspeakerconnected to the at least one audio amplifier.
 16. The infotainmentsystem of claim 1, wherein the wireless connection comprises: a portabletransmitter connected to the portable device and a receiver connected tothe audio reproduction arrangement and configured to be fixed in thevehicle.
 17. The infotainment system of claim 16, wherein an audiosignal delay path configured to delay the audio signal is connectedbetween the receiver of the wireless connection and the audioreproduction arrangement.
 18. The infotainment system of claim 1,wherein the audio reproduction arrangement is configured to switchbetween at least two different quiescent currents under the control ofthe control signal in order to control the power consumption, each ofthe at least two different quiescent currents having an amperage greaterthan zero.
 19. The infotainment system of claim 18, wherein the audioreproduction arrangement is configured to switch with a switching slopeadapted to produce no audible artifacts in the acoustically reproducedaudio signal provided by the audio reproduction arrangement.